A Father's Love
by Dextra2
Summary: Damian Grayson has only known one parent. That parent is his father, Dick Grayson. So far, they've manged to build their lives without letting anyone know about Damian. (Maybe Dick has reasons for not telling Bruce Wayne about Damian...) AU of conntected one-shots.
1. How It All Began

**Disclaimer: I don't own DC or anything you see here.**

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_Present day, at an unknown location in Saudi Arabia... (Age three)_

Nightwing looked helplessly at the screaming toddler, which Nightwing just _happened _to be holding. "Umm... Shh, Dami, it's okay," The man tried in a feeble attempted to clam to raging toddler.

"NO! Want home! NOW!" The raging toddler screamed, loudly too. Nightwing sighed to himself, after all, he never thought tonight would turn out like this. At the very best he would have found his dead brother; alive and well. If the raid hadn't gone well, Dick Grayson and Nightwing both would have died. Dick could honestly say he never would have guessed that he'd find Bruce Wayne and Talia al Ghul's love child. That was also illegitimate.

"Wait, if you a love child, does that imply you're illegitimate? Or do they mean the same thing? I'm confused. And does Bruce know about you? I would guess not, but then again..." Dick realized that his babbling had shut up the toddler, and for the first time Dick got a real good look at him. "Wow, you have Talia's eyes. Shape, color and everything. Those brown doe eyes don't looks all that bad on you either. I bet you'll have Bruce's jaw shape though. That jaw shape's been passed down for centuries. Actually, everything about their looks has been passed down for centuries. Trust me, I've seen the portraits. They all look the same. Creepy, right?"

The toddler stared at him intently and replied in a demanding voice, "Put me down. Now." Dick waited one minute, then two, and then three before letting out a huge laugh.

"Yeah, there's no way I can leave you with Bruce! You two would kill each other! Come on Dami, I'm taking you home." Dick told Damian. "So I guess you'll have to stay with me, right?"

"... PUT ME **DOWN**!"

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_Six months ago, at the top an unknown skyscraper in Blüdhaven... (Age two and a half)_

"Now," Nightwing said to the ninja he was dangling off the roof. "Maybe you'd like to tell me what you said about the Bat's son."

"He is nothing but a rumor. A shadow, if you don't mind the irony. A whisper there, a murmur there-" Nightwing slowly loosened his fingers on the ninja's shirt. "Alright, I will tell you what I know! It is said that he was brought to a safe house by Lady Talia, and then abandoned to the teachers to learn our way of life. All the other information I've heard contradicts each other." The man finished his statement quickly.

Nightwing appeared shocked, and then smirked, "_If this is true, the son he's referring to could be Jason. It makes sense, Ra's resurrected Jason, and Talia hid him away. Perfect._" Nightwing thought to himself however, he asked something else, "How long have this rumors been spreading?"

"For about a year and six months, maybe a little longer but not by much." Nightwing could tell the man answered truthfully. '_That's one thing I can thank Bruce for. Yeah, because every kid wants to learn how to interrogate terrorists. Thanks a lot, Bruce_.' Nightwing ended sarcastically.

"Thank you for your help. I'll be back and if you told me any lies, and it won't be pretty." Nightwing tossed the ninja off to the side.

The ninja stood up and said one last thing, "There is one more thing that must be said. It is spoken that the child is hidden in m'lady Talia's private estate in Saudi Arabia." The ninja bowed and continued, "Best luck to you, young one, and may the force be with you." Then he disappeared into the night, never to be seen again.

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_Present day, somewhere in a hotel located in the Middle East... (Age three)_

Dick paused and sank in the chair. "Why me? Why was I the lucky idiot to go chase some rumor? Why did I have to find the kid? Why can't the universe just play nicely with me? Why does it take kids_forever_to fall asleep? What I am suppose to do now?" Dick asked some rhetorical questions, instead of doing wiser things, such as sleeping, seeing what baby stuff he needed to get, or packing his bags for the plane tomorrow.

Within a few minutes of whining hopelessly, he decided to do something productive. Dick stood up and started tossing things into his suitcase, "Might as well pack now, and sleep on the plane. Old shirt? Check. Even older socks? Check. Wow, I have a pair of clean underwear! This is good to know. Let's see... OH MAN! The kid's gonna need clothes! Where am I suppose to get it?!" In hindsight, yelling at the top of his lungs next to a three year old that just fell asleep was a terrible idea. For in mere seconds, the said three year old started to wake up.

"Huh?" Damian's confused face made the nineteen year old laugh at out. "What's goin' on? Who're you?" Those two questions changed Dick Grayson's universe. To him, everything realigned at that moment as the next words gracefully tumbled out of his mouth.

"I'm your Daddy, Damian. And I promise everything's going to be alright."

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_Bludhaven, Dick Grayson's apartment... (Age three and a half)_

"Daddy! Wake up! Today park day! Daddy!" Dick groaned and rolled over on his bed. '_Well I did tell Dami I'd take him to the park today... How do I mange having a job, raising a child and being a hero?_' Dick wondered as he started getting up and out of bed.

"Daddy! Come on Daddy, let me get you coffee Daddy!" Damian grabbed his father's hand, and pulled him toward the kitchen. Dick tossed back his head and laughed at his son's antics.

"That's right, Dami. Daddy lives off of coffee and a miracle called daycare!" Dick grabbed his son and hefted him upwards.

"Daddy! Breakfast time? And we need clothes!" The toddler ratted off excitedly as Dick placed him in a chair.

"Yes, Dami. Now do we want Lucky Charms or..." Dick paused as he finished putting the instant coffee in the coffee maker. "Or you rather have the leftover tapioca from last night?"

"Lucky Charms! MARSHMELLOWS!" Damian stood up in his chair and cheered. '_Yup. Why would anyone take pudding when you can have marshmallows?_' Dick smirked and grabbed the box. To the father and son, their life was perfect. Even if no one else saw it like that. They had everything they needed, and they never needed any sort of help. To Dick Grayson, this was very important. He couldn't risk losing everything just because he needed to ask Bruce for help. The longer Dick kept Bruce out of the loop, the better off Bruce would be at finding out the truth about Damian. Damian thought nothing of the fact they didn't seem to have any other family to lean on. But like everything else that seems perfect, it will fall apart...

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**AN: First, thanks for reading! Please review if you would like to see this continued. I'm not sure how everyone here will think of this, and any helpful imputs would greatly help.**


	2. The Start of Not-Mom

**I don't own DC. Never have, and most likely never will. (But I will get on their storybord one day.)**

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_Wayne Manor... (Age 7)_

"Hey, Damian?" Tim asks as he's starting up the Wii.

"Yeah, Uncle Tim? HA! I GOT MARIO FIRST THIS TIME!" The boy sitting on the couch punched the air and cheered.

"... Great. You took my favorite person. Again. What did I ever do to make you hate me- Never mind, I don't want to know. Anyway, why do you call Babs Not-Mom? I don't get it." Tim sat on the couch and picked his character for the game.

Damian shrugged, "I don't know, it just feels right. I mean, I've called her that for as long as I remember. Now could we not do Rainbow Road this time? I keep falling off that course." He added on conventionally.

"Really? It feels right? That's anticlimactic..." Tim muttered, but then said at a normal tone, "Fine, but I like that one..."

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_Barbra Gordon's half of her townhouse... (Age 3)_

Barbra Gordon stared at the toddler in front of her, and stared, and stared. The toddler ('_Didn't Dick say his name was Damian or something? Sounds like the name was taken out of a horror movie._') stared right back at her. It was quite disconcerting actually. It felt like the young child was taking her soul apart, learning everything he could about it, and then rebuilding in a matter of seconds. The fact that his mouth formed an 'O' as he gasped only conformed this. But then again, the next words out of his mouth would kill that theory.

"... Are you my mommy?" (Of course, Dick laughing his head off was not helpful. And this _SO_ didn't make her want to do that favor to him. Nope, not at all.)

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_Barbra Gordon's half of her townhouse... (Age 3)_

Damian stared at the pretty lady in the funny chair. She was **REALLY** scary. And pretty, but mostly scary. ('_Didn't Daddy say Mommy was scary and pretty?_') Damian stared at the lady in the funny chair. Mainly because he couldn't look away from her. So do Damian there was only one way to make sure her was right.

"... Are you my mommy?" (Of course, he didn't get why Daddy was laughing. This wasn't funny, it was very important.)

But for some reason, Maybe-Mommy looked scared or something! (In truth, Barbara was quite surprised at Damian's question. And she was thinking of a way to phrase her response so she wouldn't hurt Damian's feelings.) "... I'm sorry, I'm not Mommy. That's someone else," Her eyes betrayed her tone by having a slight light of amusment shine through them.

"So your... Not-Mommy?" Damian asked carefully, planning his next move.

"Yes, I am not Mommy." '_I hope I didn't hurt his feelings..._' She thought to herself, not realizing the way he was asking the question.

"Okay Not-Mommy! Not-Mommy, I'm hungry, do you have in food here?" And at the same time, Dick's laughter was getting louder and even less helpful.

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**AN: So yeah, I'm making this a story of connected oneshot. Getting 16 review MAY have helped my choice. If yall want more of this, then PLEASE keep reviewing. That is VERY important to see more. **

**Thank you all for reading! R&R?**


	3. Perfect Parenting

**Don't own DC. **

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_Barbra Gordon's side of her townhouse... (Age four)_

"And the she said to me, 'Good. Every child needs _two_ parent figures.' I swear, that lady is EVIL!" Dick buried his hands into his face. "Evil I say, EVIL!"

"Daddy, why are the dead peoples coming back to life?" Damian's question went unanswered.

"Dick, are you sure you aren't over exaggerating a little? I mean, she is a nun..." Barbra sighed and started to type something up on her laptop some more.

"Not-Mommy, why are the dead people eating the other people?" Damian asked from the living room, where he was watching some zombie movie.

"So? I still think she's evil. ... What is Damian watching?" Dick had just noticed that Damian may have been watching a R-rated movie. Just was _probably_ a bad idea.

"Umm..." Barbra wheeled over a few feet to she could get a better view of the TV in the next room over. "It's some zombie movie. Rated R for gore and language, if I remember correctly." She ratted off the plot within the next few minutes. Dick listen closely and made his choice.

"Damian, if the show your watching scares you, the change the channel, kay buddy?" He requested to his son.

"Okay Daddy! HOLY CRUD! THE DEAD PERSON JUST ATE THE OTHER PERSON! DADDY, THIS IS SO AWESOME!" Damian jumped up and down on the couch and cheered.

"... Dick, do I want to know why? Or should I call Child Protection Services now? Because I will do that." Babs asked with a mock serious look on her face.

"What's wrong with it? He'll see worse out in this world one day, and he'll hopefully be prepared for it. Somewhat prepared." Dick said with a dead serious tone.

"Still doesn't mean you should scar him for life."

"He likes it for whatever reason. He's definitely _their_ kid."

"For sure. Most certainly for sure."

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**Yes, Barbra DOES know that Dick isn't Damian's birth father. I may dive more into that later, but don't count on it.**

**And Damian will NOT die in this. Mainly because that'd be too depressing to write. And you know, he's kinda the main character in this.**


	4. Even Awesomer Then Uncle Tim

**If wishes were horses... Then I'd have a horse. And DC Comics, but until then...**

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_The Outlaws' beach hideout... (Age 10)_

Roy slumped further down in his chair. Maybe Jason was right. Maybe this was pathetic and sad. Maybe he should go do something. Then again, what were you suppose to do when the daughter, who everyone said was dead, came back? Oh, and to make _everything_ better, Ollie just _had_ to pull some strings, so Roy could get in some major trouble for going within a three mile radius of Lian.

Which is why Roy was so depressed. Because what kind of idiot in his right mind would let their child be the test subject to an ex-druggie, to prove that he could be a somewhat good influence?

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_Outlaws' beach hideout still... (Still age 10)_

"Roy, you need to man up, and do something." Jason's voice cut through the fog that was Roy's mind.

"Why? It's pointless." Roy whined back, because in his view, it was. (Which is why Jason was going to do the second stupidest idea in the entire world. Not that Roy realized this.) Jason started to grin; a grin that could give the Joker a run for his money.

"Jason, what are you doing?" asked Roy. Jason ignored Roy's panicked question, pulled out his phone and started to dial.

"Hey, Dickie-bird! How's your social life?" If anything, Jason's enthusiasm seemed to be screaming something along the line of, 'I NEED A FAVOR! PLEASE BAIL ME OUT!'

"... No, I'm not setting you up. Why would you think that? ... I was wondering if I could watch the Spawn for the weekend." Roy was intrigued by this, and sat up a little straighter. Who was Dickie-Bird? ('_Jason must really hate him to call the guy that. Must hate him a lot to call someone spawn too._' Roy thought upon the side of the conversion he heard.)

"... Geez, take a kid to a shooting range and forget I'm suppose to take him with me when I leave, and I'll never hear the end of it! ... Yeah, I know. ... He's the reason I'm doing this. His mood is **_killing_** me. ... Why would I take the kid to a meth lab?" Jason looked confused and then looked expressionlessly at nothing.

"What is wrong with the Replacement? ... About time someone did that! ... Yeah, I'll pick him up in an hour. ... Bye." And with that, Jason hung up the phone and grinned idiotically grin at Roy.

"Jay... What did you do? Should I be worried? Because I am. And who's the Spawn?" Roy shot off question after question.

"I asked my... A person I know for a favor. I have no idea, but it's not that important. And you'll meet the Spawn. Soon enough, anyway. Kori, I'm going to borrow your spaceship!"

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_The Graysons' apartment... (Still age 10)_

Dick plopped himself on the couch, taking a few moments to relax. Moments like these were rare in his life. When he retired from Nightwing seven years ago, Dick rediscovered things that were lost to him; things like sleeping, and drinking other things then coffee.

But now, it felt like between his job, raising Damian, and being the new Batman, there was barely enough time to do anything. Pity that everyone seemed to know this though. It left to all kinds of matchmaking and play date offers from Wally. (Dick had never passed an opportunity to hang out with his one of oldest friends though. Not so much on the blind dates.)

_They say before you start a war, you better know what you're fightin' for. Well baby you are all I_- Dick picked and answered his cell phone, "Hey Jay. What do you want?"

"_Hey, Dickie-Bird! How's your social life?_" Dick couldn't help groaning. There went his nice few moments of peace and quiet. Now he had to go bail Jason out of jail or go on a date with some ex-con who may or may not be a female.

"I'm not going to bail you out, if that's why you called, too bad. And don't expect me to go on any date with anybody."

"_Why would I set you up?_" "Last time you called, you needed to borrow three hundred dollars, and wanted me to go on a date with bounty hunter. Now what do you want?" Dick couldn't help but to slightly grin. Although the bounty hunter was completely horrible, having a legitimate reason for Jason owing a favor was fun.

"_I was wondering if I could watch the Spawn for the weekend._" "Yes, please do. He has a three day weekend, just drop him off Monday afternoon." Dick suddenly remembered that one time... "And no leaving Damian ANYWHERE. Or else." Dick growled into the speaker.

"_Geez, take a kid to a shooting range and forget I'm suppose to take him with me when I leave, and I'll never hear the end of it._" "Then don't leave him." "_Yeah, I know._" "Does Roy know about this?" Jason knew what his brother meant. Did Roy know that a child, about the same age as his own daughter, was coming, and Roy needed to behave, because this could be a good reason to see his said daughter ,who just woke up from a coma?

"_He's the reason I'm doing this. His mood is _**_killing_**_ me._" "Good. Also, please, please, PLEASE don't use Damian as way to uncover a meth lab." "_Why would I take the kid to a meth lab?_" "Tim plus evil daycare center equals Damian going undercover without my knowledge." "_... What is wrong with the Replacement?_" "No idea, I'm trying to get him tested." "_About time someone did that!_" "I know. Now Damian will be ready to pick up in an hour and just drop him off Monday morning." "_Kay I'll pick him up in an hour. Bye._" And with that, Jason hung up. At the same time, the front door dragged open and dark-hair boy entered. (The door had lost one of its hinges years before, so it dragged and clunked a lot.)

"Dad! Dad! May Colin spend the night at our house? I promise we will not try to make pasta like last time. Also, he is truly sorry about almost setting our fridge on fire. Please Dad?" Damian pleaded.

"Sorry, buddy. You're going to spend the weekend with your uncle." Dick tried to be sympathetic, he really did. Although Colin seemed to live at Damian's house half the time, and visa versus.

"But I do not want to spend the weekend with Uncle Tim. He's boring, and I think he hates me." Unfortunately, Damian was right on some level. To make a very long story short, Tim wasn't Damian's biggest fan, and after Tim gave his nephew _coat hangers_ for Christmas, Damian didn't care much for his uncle.

"I'm not talking about Uncle Tim. I mean your other uncle, Uncle Jason." If Tim and Damian hated each other, then Jason and Damian were close, although there was some debate about how much of a good idea this was.

Damian visibly brightened, "Really? Thank you, Dad! I'm going to go start packing." Damian ran to one of the adjoining rooms, where Dick assumed his son was packing. In reality, Damian was really calling up his friend and explaining why they wouldn't be able to hang out that weekend. Luckily, Damian managed to pack his bags in three point five minutes. (Which was nothing compared to when he packed a weeks' worth of clothes in a minute.) Just as Damian zipped his suitcase closed, he heard a knock on the front door, followed by a muffled yell. Damian grinned, pick up his suitcase and ran out to meet his uncle.

"Hey, Jason." Dick grinned and hugged his younger (and not dead anymore) brother. "How's my favorite zombie?"

"I hate you so-" Jason grunted as his nephew charged and threw his arms around Jason. "Hey, Spawn. Looking forward for us hanging out this weekend?"

"Yes! Thank you for allowing me to come, Uncle Jason! You're WAAAAYYYY cooler and more awesome then Uncle Tim. He got me coat hangers for Christmas, you know. That's never a sign of being cool or awesome." Damian blabbed on for a few more minutes.

"Anyway, thanks for taking Dami. I'm sure you'll both have a great time." Dick hugged and exchanged goodbyes with his son. Then Jason and Damian left, and Dick grinned.

He pulled out his cell and made a call on speed dial. "Hey, Babs. Are you busy this weekend?" He asked causally.

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**And that's all folks! (At least untill the next chapter is written up.) I'll probably expand about Lian being alive later. If not, there's really not that much to know. **

**Anyway, please review! I cannot express how much it means to me. R&R!**


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